look for a dog to kick

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look for a dog to kick

To seek out someone to blame or castigate, especially someone who is not at fault. (Usually said in the continuous tense.) My dad had a famously short fuse when we were growing up, so we soon learned to get out of his way when he was looking for a dog to kick. The troubled economy is the result of many factors, but the president is usually the first one blamed by voters looking for a dog to kick.

Common Names:

Name	Pronounced	Usage
Basu	-	Bengali
Elissa (1)	-	Roman Mythology
Akeem	-	African American
WiesŁAw	VYE-swahf	Polish
Jadranka	-	Croatian, Serbian, Slovene
Lara (1)	LAHR-ə (English), LAH-rah (German, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese)	Russian, English, German, French, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Dutch, Hungarian, Slovene, Croatian